New record of podocopid ostracods from Cretaceous amber

PeerJ. 2020 Oct 26:8:e10134. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10134. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Burmese Cretaceous amber (∼99 Ma, Myanmar) is famous for the preservation of a wide range of fauna and flora, including representatives of marine, freshwater and terrestrial groups. Here, we report on three ostracod specimens, that came visible as syninclusions to an aquatic isopod. The three specimens represent three different taxa, that were found preserved in a single piece of amber. One of the described specimens was studied using µCT scanning data. On the basis of general carapace morphology we assign all three to the group Podocopida, and (tentatively) its ingroup Cypridocopina. A lack of visibility of more particular diagnostic features such as adductor muscle scars and details of the marginal zone precludes a further identification, but we discuss possible affinities with either the marine-brackish group Pontocypridoidea or the non-marine group Cypridoidea. The taphonomy indicates that the studied ostracods had been subject to limited (if any) post-mortem transport, which could be consistent with marginal marine environments.

Keywords: Amber; Myanmar; Ostracods; Palaeoenvironment; Taphonomy.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project P 27687-N29, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Ha 6300/3-2) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB26000000). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.